Faster job growth in Colorado last year appears to have driven above-average income gains in the state last year, according to a report Tuesday from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Personal incomes rose 3.4 percent in Colorado last year, the sixth fastest rate of increase of any state in the country and solidly ahead of the 2.6 percent national average.

Income growth was better only in North Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Texas.

The elimination of the federal payroll tax holiday last year slowed personal income growth, which for all states averaged 4.2 percent in 2012. In Colorado, personal income growth downshifted from a 3.9 percent pace in 2012.

Part of Colorado’s ability to hold up better on personal income reflects faster population growth, but also a 3 percent gain in payroll jobs. Per-capita personal income, which is adjusted for population, grew 3.3 percent last year to $46,610, the 16th highest of any state.

Personal income consists mostly of salaries and benefits and the money sole proprietors earn from a business. But it also includes rents, interest and dividend payments and government transfers such as Social Security and unemployment.

That last category, called transfer receipts, rose 4.7 percent in 2013, the fastest of any income category in Colorado. Net earnings from work, which includes both employment and business ownership, rose 3.2 percent in Colorado versus 2 percent nationally.

Professional and technical services, construction, state and local governments and the natural resources sector were the big drivers of income gains in Colorado last year.

Looking across 2013 on a quarterly basis, personal incomes in Colorado rose faster than the U.S. average in the second and third quarters, and matched the U.S. average in the fourth.

Rates of state personal income growth ranged from 1.5 percent in West Virginia to 7.6 percent in North Dakota. On a per-capita basis, for every $100 their fellow Americans made last year, Colorado residents put $105 in their pocket.

Income gains outpaced a measure of inflation called the personal consumption expenditure, which rose 1.1 percent in 2013, down from a 1.8 percent pace in 2012, the bureau said.

Aldo Svaldi has worked at The Denver Post since 2000. His coverage areas have included residential real estate, economic development and the Colorado economy. He's also worked for Financial Times Energy, the Denver Business Journal and Arab News.

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